Commentary: Anybody home in the White House?

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

It’s easy to picture it in your mind – a bunch of shipping industry representatives are knocking on the door of the White House and the president looks out the window knowing what they want but is shielding himself from their view behind a curtain. At least that’s what it must have seemed like to American shippers who had become increasingly concerned about the labor strike in 10 of the 14 terminals in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which lasted through late Tuesday. These are the nation’s two biggest inbound container ports, respectively, and many supply chains depend on their efficiency. Earlier that day, nearly 100 trade groups sent a letter to the president asking his administration to intervene in the str...